Posts tagged broccoli

It was a warm day and grilling out seemed like a great idea. We had stopped by our local grocer (Ken’s Fruit Market) and purchased some meat to make burgers. We were all excited to bust out the grill… then BAM we remembered (once we got home of course) we forgot any sides to go with our burgers. Time to search the kitchen high and low for something. I was not about to turn on the stove or oven and make J’s suggested noodles… veggies sounded good and I had fresh veggies I had just purchased at the farmer’s market – SCORE! Wrapped it in some bacon I had on hand, threw it on the grill… voila! Dinner is served!

For the burgers we just dusted them with salt and pepper and added muenster cheese towards the end, just in time to melt. We washed and trimmed the veggies up (asparagus and broccoli) and wrapped them in bacon. I used tooth picks to hold the bacon on. We grilled them until they were soft enough for our taste (and the bacon was cooked) and served. It was simple, they didn’t fall through the grating on the grill, they were flavorful and as an added bonus the heat used for cooking DIDN’T come in the house. WIN type of situation.

burger with bacon wrapped veggies

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We started with homemade pizza dough – we used The Essential Baking Cookbook, page 256, to make the dough. We followed the recipe exactly. If you’d like the recipe please email us and we’ll forward it. The reason I am not including it here, is because there are so many dough recipes already I didn’t want to add something basic. IF and WHEN we alter the recipe or change it, I’ll include those directions.

1. mix your mayo and ranch seasonings
2. roll out pizza dough and spread the mayo mixture on pizza, ½ inch from sides
3. top with ½ of mozzarella, sprinkle with sliced, chopped veggies and top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan
4. bake at 425 for ~22 mins or until desired doneness

1. cook ground meat for a few mins, toss in chopped onion and continue to cook until meat is cooked all the way through and onion tender ~5 mins
2. add broccoli to the above mixture with a bit of water and allow the broccoli to soften, drain and set aside
3. cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for ~10-12 mins, take out and lay flat and allow them to cool, this will make working with them easier
4. whisk your egg in a bowl and stir in ricotta, stir in your broccoli/meat/onion mixture into the egg/ricotta
5. place ¼ of this filling on a lasagna noodle and roll up **here is the messy part, some may come out the sides, it is going to get on your hands… keep going, you’ll cover it up with sauce anyways!**
6. place seam side down in a baking dish and cover with spaghetti sauce
7. bake at 375 covered for 30 mins then top with parmesan and serve

**adapted from BHG: New Cookbook – page 355

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olive oil (original recipe calls for cooking spray but I refuse to use cooking spray [like Pam] for the simple reason of the unnecessary propellants used to push the oil out of the can – here is a link if you want to check out my reasoning: http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/out26_en.pdf)
1 – 16oz log of polenta, cut into ¼ inch thick slices
fresh broccoli florets (the original recipe calls for bagged, but due to our “experiment” we are using fresh… also it doesn’t say to chop the broccoli, but leave as florets… for ease of eating we are going to chop them)
2 tbsp water
¾ cup part skim ricotta cheese
¼ fresh grated parmesan cheese (we don’t have the block of parmesan, but we had some already shredded left over from a previous recipe last week, so that is what we are using)
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/8 tsp pepper
1 lrg plum tomato, chopped (couldn’t find a plum tomato, so we are using a roma)

1. in a bowl mix together your ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, lemon peel and pepper (the original recipe gives this as your last direction, but it also states not to turn your broiler off… but to not waste your gas or electricity have this step ready SO when you are done heating the polenta with the broccoli on top you can immediately drop this on and close the oven back up)
2. on a cookie sheet spray with olive oil (or spread olive oil over your surface) and place a single slice of polenta in the middle of your cookie sheet, then begin creating a circle around this middles slice over lapping each piece slightly (try to ensure there are no holes down to the cookie sheet basically) top polenta with olive oil and place under a broiler for ~5 mins
3. while your polenta is cooking microwave your broccoli with your water for ~3mins (or until tender enough for your liking) *chopped broccoli might take less time
4. once polenta/broccoli are done, place the broccoli on top of the polenta (evenly the recipe says – duh?) and drop the cheese mixture over the polenta in tsp, tbsp or whatever size helpings you like
5. sprinkle with your tomato and broil another ~3-5 mins
6. serve and enjoy